The French claim sovereignty over the Moon

[fsn]

?

William III of England was married to Mary, daughter of James. James was a Catholic and not tremendously popular having had to deal with a couple of rebellions during his reign. William wrote to the people of England saying "I don't like Catholics" (I paraphrase) and a group called The Magnificent Seven (or something) said "well come over here and sort out this James chappie." When Willy arrived, the English basically disintegrated. No big battle, Jimmy took to his heels and fled (eventually) to France.  

To put it in context, James II would have been played by Basil Rathbone, William II by Errol Flynn and Mary by Olivia de Havilland.  

[Fenton]

I think Clib knows all about King Billy

[fsn]

To try and lighten the mood ... anyone ever gamed the Brazilian Expeditionary Force that fought in Italy from September '44 to May '45? 27,500 men strong and yet I'd never come across mention of it until this afternoon.

I first came across them in "The Allied Forces in Italy 1943-45" by Guido Rosignoli, but there is a decent Osprey. Lovely little force with basically US kit. There was also an air contingent flying P47s.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brazilian-Expeditionary-Force-World-Men-at-arms/dp/1849084831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383328468&sr=8-1&keywords=brazilian+expeditionary

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

There is a good history on the Flames site called 'The Cobra is Smoking'. A reference to the chances of the Brazilians actually fighting...

[clibinarium]

I'm currently sculpting Grand Alliance ranges in two different scales; as Fenton rightly points out I am familiar with Good King Billy. The question mark relates to Anything's better than a Catholic.

[Matt J]

I'm assuming FSN is refering to the feeling of the English parliament at the time and not his own views

[fsn]

I am. Apologies for any confusion.

[clibinarium]

It was a bit ambiguous because the rest of the post was in the past tense, save that statement which was in the present tense.
But fair enough.

[FierceKitty]

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. One of Johnson's more defensible opinions.